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King Crimson: Live in Newcastle, December 8, 1972
"Never say never," or so the old adage goes. When it comes to music, there are two more that should be added: “farewell tour" and, most certainly as it relates to King Crimson's Live in Newcastle, December 8, 1972, “the complete recordings." This, the 48th in the veteran group's King Crimson Collector's Club series of archival releases, turns out not just to be an unexpected addition to the group's Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Panegyric), but belies that fifteen-disc, 2012 40th ...
read moreHoward University Jazz Ensemble: HUJE 2018
One sure sign of spring is the arrival of the latest yearly recording by the superb Howard University Jazz Ensemble, a tradition that dates without pause from the days of vinyl in 1976, one year after the ensemble was formed by its first and only music director, Fred Irby III. For archivists and numbers-crunchers, that's forty-four years and counting. Unlike some of its precursors, HUJE 2018 is entirely instrumental; it does, however, include the usual measure of ...
read moreNick Grinder: Farallon
The striking thing about this CD by Bay Area trombonist Nick Grinder is how warm and soothing it sounds. It is not Smooth Jazz by any means, but there is a broad, melodic tone to Grinder's playing and the way he arranges the music that feels inviting and friendly. This is present even in up-tempo pieces like “New And Happy," with its brisk bebop cadences, and the prickly battle of “5 Steps" between Grinder's dancing horn, Ethan Helm's twisting alto ...
read moreMosaic Blow-Out, Anita @ 100 & More
So, my log book reminded me it was time to play some Fats Waller, and the Savory box just arrived from Mosaic, which contains fabulous Waller airchecks. Done! Well, one thing lead to another, and as you see below, more Mosaics screamed for attention. Anita O'Day is 100 in the Fall--time for a warmup with Sings the Winners, which Will Friedwald considers one of the top 50 jazz vocal records of all-time; DrJ selected three tunes associated with Stan Getz ...
read moreKneebody's Perfect
In less than two decades Kneebody has established itself as reference band of forward-looking musicians. With a brand new EP out, By Fire, their first release entirely dedicated to covers, a new outlet (the British musician-run reference label Edition Records), and new line-up following the departure of bassist Kaveh Rastegar, there's a been a lot going on for this influential group. So this week we look back at their genre-bending work, and at the busy careers and eclectic collaborations of ...
read moreThe Winners Of The 2019 All About Jazz Top Venues Poll
All About Jazz's first ever readers poll is in the books with nearly 4,000 of our 191,000 members casting votes for their favorite places to hear live jazz. For those keeping score, that's somewhere in the ballpark of a 2% turnout. Good, but not great, though we knew the challenges going in: it was our first poll, it required a sign up or sign in, and we had to overcome the dubious perception of internet polls. Regarding the latter, I ...
read moreWadada Leo Smith / Sabu Toyozumi: Burning Meditation
The Japanese concept of ma—a celebration of the space between things—is one to which trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith can readily subscribe. Space and silence are as important as sound in his conception. The weight given to the pauses between phrases stands out on this live recording from 1994 with Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi, which forms another winning installment in the Chap Chap series of archival recordings from Japan which see the light of day thanks to licensing to the Lithuanian ...
read moreDom Minasi: Remembering Cecil
Guitarist Dom Minasi counts the late pianist Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) as one of his idols. Taylor was among the true pioneers of free jazz, with free-flying ensemble recordings like Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966), Conquistador (Blue Note, 1967), and scores of solo piano outings, notably including Silent Tongues (Freedom, 1974), and For Olim (Soul Note, 1986). For many free jazz fans, it was the solo sets that showcased Taylor's true genius, so it is fitting that Minasi goes solo for ...
read moreBig Ten Inch Record
As the great Sigmund Freud said, sometimes an EP is just an EP. In this case, actually, it's six EP's, as the boys look at that chimera of the early LP era, the ten-inch long-playing record, focusing on releases from the early to mid-nineteen fifties on Blue Note and Fantasy, along with a Resonance Records' Record Store Day release of archival guitar music recorded in mid-fifties Indianapolis but not released until the twenty-first century. Much musing about the special flavor ...
read moreMiguel Gorodi: Apophenia
As a youngster, Miguel Gorodi led something of a nomadic existence. He was born in Spain in 1990 but was then raised in Saudi Arabia and Thailand before moving to England in 2006. In his mid-teens he won a scholarship to study music at Wells Cathedral School and two years later received a place at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study trumpet. He graduated from there in 2012 with a first class honours degree but stayed on ...
read moreA Focus on Paul Bley
This week we focus on the work of master pianist Paul Bley, including examples of the ground-breaking music he created with Jimmy Giuffre and Steve Swallow. During the rest of the show we feature some fascinating recent releases and some other classic cuts. Playlist James Brandon Lewis “Sir Real Denard" from An Unruly Manifesto (Relative Pitch) 00:00 Paul Bley “There Will Never Be Another You" from Early Trios (Fresh Sounds) 09:52 Jimmy Giuffre “The Five Ways" from ...
read moreAnoushka Shankar: Music Makes the World a Better Place
Esoteric, eclectic and prolific, the Indian sitarist and composer Anoushka Shankar has mapped out an intriguing artistic path by delivering intriguing music that has veered between the modern and the traditional. Her ambitious, progressive and multicultural musical world view has been growing exponentially from a record to record and has taken her on a path of creating music without borders. For the past 20 years, she has been crossing border after border and culture with culture, and most of the ...
read more2019 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert
In celebration of the 2019 NEA Jazz Masters—Stanley Crouch, Bob Dorough, Abdullah Ibrahim, and Maria Schneider—the National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, hosted a free concert in their honor on April 15, 2019.
The evening featured remarks by NEA Acting Chair Mary Anne Carter and Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter and appearances by world-renowned musicians paying tribute to the NEA Jazz Masters’ careers, with performances by Jay Anderson, Steve Berger, Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kurt Elling, Sullivan Fortner, Bill Goodwin, Cleave Guyton, Noah Jackson, 2012 NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, Grace Kelly, Frank Kimbrough, Christian McBride, Charles McPherson, Jason Moran, David Murray, Pat O’Leary, Scott Robinson, and J D Walter.
Venue Poll Results
Thanks or helping us identify the world's top jazz venues. For a recap, click here.
Album Showcase
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Walking to New Orleans by George Benson
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Five Roads by Mauricio de Souza
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Infinite Itinerant by Domas Žeromskas
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Epistrophy by Bill Frisell
Jazz Story
I was first exposed to jazz when at about age 12 I checked out from the local library (Chicago, IL) John Coltrane's “Giant Steps.” I couldn't play anything like that, and still cannot, but I began whistling extended lines all day every day
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By Michael Moss
Member since: 2011
